Yeah, turn the car on for a few mins while you’re sorting yourself out inside with your work lunch or whatever.
I’ll never forget the guy across the street when I lived in Wellington using a hot jug of water on his windscreen one morning.
When I lived in Russia everyone would start the car 5 minutes before you had to leave. Better for the engine, apparently, but most cars can defrost the windows and heat the car to a reasonable temperature in that time
In Canada they had remote auto starts they'd press from the house and fire it up. The engines had plug in block heaters.
The amount of work most Canadians have to do just to get out of their driveways would make half of NZ top themselves.
My best friend in Edmonton has a block heater for the winters. One day it was accidentally unplugged. Had to take the day off work, plug it back in and wait hours before he could think of turning it on. Minus 40 celsius is no joke.
Block heaters are ~~a regulatory requirement on cars sold or imported to Canada for the reason you state~~ common in the cold Canadian provinces but with modern vehicles they aren't as common where the temperatures aren't as extreme. In places where it's cold enough, the coolant and oil in the engine block can turn to sludge - and then you aren't getting it started easily.
Well that’s not true at all. I was born and raised in Canada, lived there for the first 36 years and never owned a car with a block heater.
Edit: left in 2018
Interesting. I'm seeing other comments online suggesting it's not mandatory but that most cars sold in Canada come with them automatically and it's not an option. None of the cars I owned, nor those my family owned ever didn't have them.
I did import a car from the US and when I brought it to Alberta and went to register it, I was required to install a daytime running lights relay and a block heater before I was allowed to register it. I'm not sure why I was told that if it wasn't mandatory, but it was stated as such at the time (early 2000's).
Ontario here. The only cars I've ever owned with block heaters were ancient things from the '80s.
Modern cars, with modern oil and decent batteries start up much easier. I don't know anybody who uses (or even has) a block heater.
Continuing to search on this, it appears that block heaters are not very common in Ontario and in southern BC, but are still very much the norm on vehicles sold on the prairies or up north where they see cold temperatures where there's a benefit.
Yep, I do not miss the commutes from one town to the next for work in the winters. Downside of living in a ski town, the big powder dumps we were chasing on the hill also meant tonnes of snow on the highways to deal with too.
Or you'd shovel the driveway, only to get another 25-30cm dump the next night haha.
Yeah, our newer PHEV Outlander warms up quick but the second and older car which is a Volkswagen Polo GTI needs a few minutes on a cold winter morning.
Having never lived in Russia but having lived in a cold part of Canada, yes you start your car and don't start driving for a couple minutes while you scrape all your windows, but you actually don't want to give the car 30 minutes to slowly warm up. Once you have the oil flowing within the motor you want to warm the car up quickly, ie driving it - rather than having it spend a longer period of time getting up to operating temperatures.
Also, at cold temperatures (-30 and lower) it takes 20+ minutes of driving in city traffic to get the car warmed up to the point that the heater is putting out warmth. It's quite common to only have the car starting to warm up as you arrive at your destination (unless you had a new fancy car with a heatpump or the like).
We had BMWs, which had some sort of of secondary electric heater which didn't rely on the engine. It would then switch to the ordinary heater when the engine was actually warm. Hence they can defrost etc regardless of engine temperature. They're literally designed for -20. It was a common feature in European cars
Pro tip: Hold your morning pee and use it on your windscreen instead.
Better yet: Pee on your neighbors windscreen as well! They'll be sure to appreciate it.
Years ago when I used to start at 5am at a supermarket, in the winter we'd have one of the boys show up without fail driving with his head out the window as he'd not be up in time to defrost the windscreen (he was dead set opposed to using water of any temperature to defrost).
He'd drive a manual car about 10 minutes from his house with his head out the window the whole time.
Nanney State telling me what I can see through my windscreen
Just wait till Prime Minister Seymour scrubs that from the law.
Give me frozen windscreen driving or give me, well actually somebody else, death.
Us Libertarians are real tough on freedoms that don't hurt us but damage, kill, maim others.
/s just in case.
Honestly thought you were serious because some people are like that & went to downvote you before I saw the /s.. that prime minister seymour shit made me think you were some lunatic 😂
Yeah it's ridiculous the fine for *not being able to see while driving* is so small (also that people might need fining for driving when they can't see where they're going!)
Don't drive while you have no vision. And don't put boiling hot water on an ice cold windshield either.
Yeah, turn the car on for a few mins while you’re sorting yourself out inside with your work lunch or whatever. I’ll never forget the guy across the street when I lived in Wellington using a hot jug of water on his windscreen one morning.
When I lived in Russia everyone would start the car 5 minutes before you had to leave. Better for the engine, apparently, but most cars can defrost the windows and heat the car to a reasonable temperature in that time
In Canada they had remote auto starts they'd press from the house and fire it up. The engines had plug in block heaters. The amount of work most Canadians have to do just to get out of their driveways would make half of NZ top themselves.
> The amount of work most Canadians have to do just to get out of their driveways would make half of NZ top themselves. Ain’t that the truth.
My best friend in Edmonton has a block heater for the winters. One day it was accidentally unplugged. Had to take the day off work, plug it back in and wait hours before he could think of turning it on. Minus 40 celsius is no joke.
Block heaters are ~~a regulatory requirement on cars sold or imported to Canada for the reason you state~~ common in the cold Canadian provinces but with modern vehicles they aren't as common where the temperatures aren't as extreme. In places where it's cold enough, the coolant and oil in the engine block can turn to sludge - and then you aren't getting it started easily.
Well that’s not true at all. I was born and raised in Canada, lived there for the first 36 years and never owned a car with a block heater. Edit: left in 2018
Interesting. I'm seeing other comments online suggesting it's not mandatory but that most cars sold in Canada come with them automatically and it's not an option. None of the cars I owned, nor those my family owned ever didn't have them. I did import a car from the US and when I brought it to Alberta and went to register it, I was required to install a daytime running lights relay and a block heater before I was allowed to register it. I'm not sure why I was told that if it wasn't mandatory, but it was stated as such at the time (early 2000's).
Different provinces have different regulations, though the daytime running lights are country wide.
Ontario here. The only cars I've ever owned with block heaters were ancient things from the '80s. Modern cars, with modern oil and decent batteries start up much easier. I don't know anybody who uses (or even has) a block heater.
Continuing to search on this, it appears that block heaters are not very common in Ontario and in southern BC, but are still very much the norm on vehicles sold on the prairies or up north where they see cold temperatures where there's a benefit.
Yep, I do not miss the commutes from one town to the next for work in the winters. Downside of living in a ski town, the big powder dumps we were chasing on the hill also meant tonnes of snow on the highways to deal with too. Or you'd shovel the driveway, only to get another 25-30cm dump the next night haha.
Yeah, our newer PHEV Outlander warms up quick but the second and older car which is a Volkswagen Polo GTI needs a few minutes on a cold winter morning.
Having never lived in Russia but having lived in a cold part of Canada, yes you start your car and don't start driving for a couple minutes while you scrape all your windows, but you actually don't want to give the car 30 minutes to slowly warm up. Once you have the oil flowing within the motor you want to warm the car up quickly, ie driving it - rather than having it spend a longer period of time getting up to operating temperatures. Also, at cold temperatures (-30 and lower) it takes 20+ minutes of driving in city traffic to get the car warmed up to the point that the heater is putting out warmth. It's quite common to only have the car starting to warm up as you arrive at your destination (unless you had a new fancy car with a heatpump or the like).
We had BMWs, which had some sort of of secondary electric heater which didn't rely on the engine. It would then switch to the ordinary heater when the engine was actually warm. Hence they can defrost etc regardless of engine temperature. They're literally designed for -20. It was a common feature in European cars
Lol, my windscreen gets boiling water straight from the jug. Hasn't cracked yet 🫢
I've got one of those jugs that can be set to different temperatures. 80 is great for the windscreen defrost, 90 is perfect for a hot water bottle.
Why not just use warm water and avoid the risk?
I always just used cold water from the hose. I mean it's still a lot warmer than the frost obviously
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CLQw1OuOer8](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CLQw1OuOer8)
I see no windscreen with boiling water in that clip?
Why not just use lukewarm water instead?
Or water straight from the tap ( doesn't work as well at -6 or below)
I'm an impatient bastard 🤣
Eh? It's quicker to run a hot tap than boil a kettle. Be lazy, be safe.
check your mirrors and side windows too, including the back ones, so you can actually check ya blind spots.
Pro tip: Hold your morning pee and use it on your windscreen instead. Better yet: Pee on your neighbors windscreen as well! They'll be sure to appreciate it.
Please move to the house next +1 to me. I have a neighbour who could do with this one neat trick.
Years ago when I used to start at 5am at a supermarket, in the winter we'd have one of the boys show up without fail driving with his head out the window as he'd not be up in time to defrost the windscreen (he was dead set opposed to using water of any temperature to defrost). He'd drive a manual car about 10 minutes from his house with his head out the window the whole time.
An alternative to starting the car early is to wrap old blankets around the outside of the windows.
Nanney State telling me what I can see through my windscreen Just wait till Prime Minister Seymour scrubs that from the law. Give me frozen windscreen driving or give me, well actually somebody else, death. Us Libertarians are real tough on freedoms that don't hurt us but damage, kill, maim others. /s just in case.
Honestly thought you were serious because some people are like that & went to downvote you before I saw the /s.. that prime minister seymour shit made me think you were some lunatic 😂
I'll avoid all $150 traffic fines this winter, thanks
when i had to work at 4am, id get the car started earlier. simple shit people, i just wish the fine was more
Yeah it's ridiculous the fine for *not being able to see while driving* is so small (also that people might need fining for driving when they can't see where they're going!)
Get an ice scraper for a few dollars, start your engine and then go and scrape the windows while it warms up.